Is this Social Selling? (A Rant)

To be honest I still struggle with a good definition for Social Selling; even though LinkedIn is telling me that my SSI is 82, not extremely high but in the top 1% percentile of my peer group and in the top 5% percentile of my network.

So today I cam across this e-mail where the use of LinkedIn as a tool is pretty obvious.
I am sure you must have seen similar e-mails as this example here below:

Objet : Saw you on LinkedIn, Christian

Hi Christian,

I hope you don’t mind me reaching out. I’m an executive at … and the former head of global recruiting for…..

I researched your profile on LinkedIn and was hoping to discuss with you an issue about which I’m sure you’re painfully aware: Hiring talent is at least as hard, if not harder than it’s ever been for recruiters today.

It’s no secret that most hiring processes are manual and use databases filled with stale, out-of-date data. In fact, it’s estimated that almost 80% of a recruiter’s time today is spent on low-value, repetitive, laborious tasks.

The result? In this market, the good hires are getting away, a fact a fast-growing business can ill-afford.

That’s why I’m reaching out. My company, …., provides an end-to-end hiring platform that finally allows busy recruiters to spend time on what matters most – building relationships with candidates and hiring the right people, faster.

We’re not another Applicant Tracking System (ATS), job board, or some hard-to-use software tool. Our solution really does the job – across 16 different hiring service functions. In fact, we provide the industry’s largest and most accurate database of both active and passive candidates anywhere.

Christian, if the pace of business requires that you find, nurture, evaluate and hire the right talent faster, let’s talk about how …..would work for you. Please let me know when you’re free to jump on the phone and I’ll get right back to you.

Best,

……
…..

If you would like me to remove c_a_maurer@ceoexpress.com from my outreach, please click here.

Is this social Selling?

The only thing social I can see here is that the sender found my contact details on LinkedIn instead of a phone book or another directory. Had the sender researched my profile, as pretended, it would be pretty clear that I am far from being an ideal target for what he has to offer.  

To me this is social selling like "lipstick on a pig" (Seth Godin).
It seems salespeople are not willing to learn. They just transpose their ineffective behavior to the next new fad.

I would be interest in your opinion on this.